Stories from Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Twenty-seven days have passed since family members discovered the body of 17-year-old Dietrich Jackson, yet police are releasing few details about their investigation into the death of the Greencastle High School senior. An autopsy was performed on Dec. ...

The Greencastle Freshman basketball team went 2-1 Saturday and Monday. On Saturday they finished third in the Edgewood Freshman tournament. The Tiger Cubs fell to Bloomfield in the opening game 32-25 but came back to defeat West Vigo 37-23 in the consolation game. Keegan Remsburg led Greencastle in the first game with 12 and Tyler Pettit was the leading scorer in the afternoon with 11...

CLINTON -- On Saturday, the Cloverdale wrestlers traveled to the South Vermillion Invitational and came away with a fourth place finish, with 177.5 points. The host Wildcats won the event with 259 points. Brittney Hughes was the Clovers' lone champion, going 3-0 at 103 pounds...

CRAWFORDSVILLE -- The South Putnam swim teams traveled to North Montgomery Monday night and dropped a pair of contests to their hosts. In the girls' meet, the Eagles fell 130-52. On the boys' side, South lost 105-75. Shelby Johnston was the lone winner for the girls, taking the diving competition with 178.85 points...

CLOVERDALE -- On Monday, the Cloverdale girls' basketball squad dismantled the visiting Vikings of West Vigo, 65-46, en route to its tenth victory of the season. The Clovers put on a display of dominating basketball for the loyal crowd in attendance, holding the Vikings to one point for the first 14 minutes of the game...

Discussions were brief and reports kept to a minimum as a newly elected Greencastle City Council and Mayor completed their first meeting of 2008 on Tuesday evening. It took right at an hour for council members John Lanie, Jinsie Bingham, Mark Hammer, T.J. Smith and Adam Cohen, under the watch of Mayor Sue Murray, to work through the agenda, which included the approval of monthly claim dockets, annual organizational matters and a single ordinance...

Defining Town Marshall Don Pearson's scope of authority was the focus of the Cloverdale Town Council's first meeting of 2008 on Tuesday evening. Pearson appeared before the council and requested that there be open communication between his department and council members regarding the marshall's appointments of deputies and reserve officers. Pearson went on to say that he planned to appoint 10 reserve officers at some time in the future...

With abundant rainfall likely to cause an increase in leaking ceilings, a committee will be formed to plan for the future of the aging Putnam County Courthouse annex. As the former Jones Elementary School, the building now houses some county offices, hosts county meetings, and is used for storage...

By JASON MOON Special to the BannerGraphic Indiana State District 44 Rep. Amos Thomas was recently readmitted to the hospital for a condition he's been dealing with for several months. According to his son Ben, Thomas recently began experiencing severe headaches again, a problem he had suffered through after having a laminectomy in December...

Ralph R. Barnhart, 91, Indianapolis, formerly of Cloverdale, died Monday at Forest Creek Village, Indianapolis. Born at Coalmont, he was the son of Oscar and Ethyl Bessie (Clark) Barnhart. A U.S. Army veteran of World War II, he was a retired truck driver for National By-Products of Indianapolis...

Norma C. (Wagoner) Jewell, 69, Girard, Ill., died Jan. 2 at St. John's Hospital in Springfield, Ill. She was a retired nurse. Surviving are her husband, Marion Jewell, Girard, Ill.; three daughters, Tammy Folck, Roachdale, Marion Weller, White Hall, Ill., and Tracy Miller, Kincaid, Ill.; three sons, Leon Jewell, Springville, Melvin Jewell, Auburn, Ill., and Bud Kean, Girard, Ill.; sister Shirley Burch, Bedford; and several grandchildren and several great-grandchildren...

Joyce Louise Austin, 63, Quincy, died Saturday at Quincy. Born in Indianapolis, she was the daughter of Florence McGann. Survivors include three daughters, Dawn Childress and husband Rick, Teresa Daub and husband Sam, and Jody Price and husband Erik; a son, Kris Austin; and 12 grandchildren...

Sheriff's Dept. Several people were booked into the Putnam County Jail recently. Greencastle Fire Dept. Two runs were handled recently by Greencastle firefighters...

To the Editor: We would like to thank everyone involved with the fifth annual Community Christmas Dinner held at St. Paul's church on Christmas afternoon. This year we served more than 265 people, gave out toys to all the children who attended, and had an enormously satisfying day of good cheer. ...

To the Editor: In reference to the article "Putnam wildlife, waterways affected by REX pipleline" in the Dec. 27 BannerGraphic, Rockies Express also will be building several natural gas compressor stations with one in Bainbridge. The Bainbridge Compressor Station will not bear their name, nor will the permit that the Indiana Department of Environmental Manage-ment issues. ...

To the Editor: Ho ho ho! Lunch with Santa was a great event due to the generosity of the following sponsors and in-kind donors. Our goals were met, teaching children that giving to others is very important, that Habitat for Humanity has a mission to build houses for people in need and they now are a part of that giving. ...

To the Editor: On behalf of the Putnam County Youth Development Commis­sion, we wish to express our sincere gratitude for your participation in our eighth Annual Coats for Kids Campaign! Our goal was to collect and distribute more than 500 coats to children of Putnam County. Thanks to the contributions of many individuals, school families, businesses' and community members, we easily exceeded our goal. Special thanks go to those who chose to purchase and donate new coats...

To the Editor: The Humane Society of Putnam County (HSPC) would like to send a sincere thank you to the Putnam County Community Foundation for sponsoring their last transport team of 2007. The transport and 25 dogs left on Dec. 26 for Stratham, New Hamp-shire. ...

Harry and Kim Hoa Tran will celebrate their 50th anniversary on Jan. 15. The couple were married Jan. 15, 1958 in Saigon, South Vietnam. They moved to Greencastle July 16, 1980. They are the parents of six sons and four daughters. They also have 12 grandsons, six granddaughters and one great-granddaughter...

Virgil and June Sharp, Bainbridge, will celebrate their 61st wedding anniversary on Jan 11. Sharp and the former June Alexander Retired in 1991, after servicing the Greencastle area as the State Farm Insurance agent for 25 years. They are the parents of Rick Sharp and wife Laura, Greencastle, Randy Sharp and wife Anita, Knoxville, Tenn., and Rodney Sharp and wife Chris, George-town, Ky...

Jim and Ann Nolan, Biloxi, Miss., formerly of Cloverdale, announce the engagement of their daughter, Jane Ann Harrison, formerly of Putnam County, to Jerome E. Hilton III, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Hilton, Biloxi, Miss. She is a 2004 graduate of Ivy Tech State College with an associate's degree in early childhood education. She is now employed as a home care giver...

Friends and relatives of Steven R. Wittenauer are invited to a retirement open house from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 27 at Prairie Crossing Elementary School, located on U.S. 52 West between Lafayette and Fowler. Wittenauer was superintendent for Cloverdale Schools from 1992-2002. With help from the community, the new middle school was built during that time, as well as the new auditorium and science ares of the high school...